Supreme Court agrees with state on banning Piccolo Pete fireworks

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, January 11, 2008

HARTFORD -- A type of firework called Piccolo Pete that shoots off flames is too dangerous for use in Connecticut, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The court unanimously upheld the state's ban on the firework, reversing a lower court ruling.

Connecticut law prohibits the sale of fireworks except for sparklers and fountains that emit a shower of sparks or smoke, contain fewer than 100 grams of pyrotechnic mixture and don't shoot into the air or explode.

"In view of the fact that fireworks are widely banned and otherwise intensely regulated under our statutory scheme, it would be contrary to that scheme to construe it as permitting a dangerous and otherwise prohibited pyrotechnic effect -- in the present case a four- to five-inch exposed flame that lasts up to six seconds -- merely because that pyrotechnic effect is produced by a firework that emits a shower of colored sparks or smoke," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote for the court.

The justices ruled against Piccolo Pete after watching a video of the firework. They concluded Pete emits little smoke to qualify for the exemption.

The fireworks are made by American Promotional Events Inc., the parent company of fireworks maker TNT Fireworks.

A telephone message was left for Jerry O'Malley, an attorney representing the Alabama-based fireworks company.

The state banned the firework after fire marshals raised safety concerns. State officials said they were not aware of any other firework sold in Connecticut that produced a flame as large as Piccolo Pete.

A company official testified that Piccolo Pete's most striking feature was its whistle and argued that it fell within the exception allowed by the law.

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A New London Superior Court judge initially upheld the state's ban, but later reversed the decision when the case was reargued.